Copper
is a pure elemental metal, CU on the periodic table. It is reddish brown and is
soft enough so that it is malleable which means you can shape and bend it fairly
easily.

Copper oxidizes and darkens
when it comes in contact with the air in the environment. It tends to get to a
certain dark color but then it doesn't get any darker.

If
you've ever seen copper roofs that have turned green, that is what is called copper
patina. The copper has reacted with the environment and rain, especially if it
is acidic rain.

The same sort of thing
can happen when copper comes in contact with your skin if your skin is acidic.
The acids in your skin combine with copper and make copper salts which are green.
They are harmless and can simply be washed off.

Copper
Care

Copper develops a patina, much
like sterling silver, but faster and darker, especially in the presence of heat,
sunlight, sweat, swimming pools and chlorine water, chemicals and cosmetics. Remove
copper jewelry before bathing, swimming, doing dishes, putting on lotion or makeup.

Some
people love the deep rich look of vintage copper while others like the bright
shiny bronze look of clean copper.

StorageKeep
cooper in a cool, dry place. If possible, store in an anti-tarnish pouch, box
or cloth. If you have none of these, use a tightly sealing plastic bag to keep
air from contacting the copper items. Adding a strip of anti-tarnish paper can
also slow down tarnish.

CleaningEffective
cleaning products for copper are highly acidic. Here are some methods for cleaning
a solid copper item with no stones or gems.

Lemon
Juice

Lay
a cloth on your kitchen counter, one that you don't mind getting dirty.

Place
your copper item in a glass or ceramic bowl on the cloth.

Squirt
lemon juice over the item.

Move
the item in the liquid so that all surfaces have a chance to react with the lemon
juice.

Use a toothbrush
to scrub the lemon juice in the crevices.

Rinse.

Wash
with warm water and soap, using your toothbrush again if necessary.

Mix
lemon juice and salt together until you have a paste which you can use for deep
cleaning.

Apply with a
cloth or toothbrush as appropriate.

Rinse

Dry

To
make a paste that you can apply and leave on an item for a deeper cleanse, you
can make a thicker paste by adding some flour to the above lemon-salt paste.

Ketchup
and Worcestershire sauce have been noted to be excellent copper cleaners but more
expensive than the home preparations above.

To
maintain the shine, you can buff a copper piece with an anti-tarnish cloth.

Reaction
between copper and your skin

If
you have ever had a copper bracelet that started to turn green or even turn your
skin green, you might have been turned off by copper.

The
green color results from an individual's body chemistry at a particular time.
Two people can wear the same bracelet and one person's wrist will turn green and
the other's will not. A person can wear a copper bracelet one day with no green
marks and the next day green marks might appear.

What
does the green tell you? The green color means that your skin has become more
acidic and has dissolved copper from the bracelet faster than the body can absorb
it. This usually happens when we sweat, when we are stressed, when we experience
dietary changes, mainly a poor diet (think junk food).Green marks might also
appear when the body is deficient in copper so is trying to obtain it a rate faster
than it can absorb.

When the body is
in a state of homeostasis, the copper is absorbed through the skin at the same
rate it is dissolved from the bracelet so there are no green marks.

Some
makers of copper jewelry, put a coating (sealer) on the copper item to preserve
it and prevent the copper from interacting with the wearer's skin. But then, the
purported health benefits of wearing copper would not be achieved.

Is
there a health benefit to wearing copper?

There
are many who swear by the health benefits of wearing copper (copper bracelet manufacturers)
while others have the opposite viewpoint.

Most
everyone agrees that wearing copper jewelry does no harm.

Proponents
of the benefits say copper does some or all of the following and more:

The
Bell Trading Company was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1935 by Jack
Michelson and his wife Mildred. They sold Native American Indian jewelry at various
tourist locations in the southwestern United States until the late 1980s. Their
main competitor was Maisel's Indian Trading Post. The Bell company got its name
from Jack's wife, whose maiden name was Bell. In 1972 the company name was changed
to Sunbell Corp. and items including giftware and moccasins were added to the
jewelry inventory. The types of jewelry sold by Bell Trading included sterling
silver, nickel silver, gold, and copper. Over the years numerous hallmarks were
used on items sold by Bell Trading. The hallmarks typically included the image
of a bell or that of an arrow sign post with a bell sign hanging from it. Shown
here a just a few of Bell Trading Company's hallmarks.